Similar diversification of average hourly rates was observed in the EU countries in the industrial sectors. With the average hourly rate of 25.3 euro/h (calculated for 28 EU countries), the highest wages were recorded in: Belgium (43.2 euro/h), Denmark (41.6 euro/h), Sweden (41.4 euro/h) and Germany (37 euro/h).

The total labour costs consist of gross wages and non-wage costs. For every 100 euro paid as the basic salary, the highest non-wage costs were paid by employers from the private sector in France (47 euro), followed by Finland (46 euro), Belgium (44 euro), Lithuania (41 euro) and Italy (39 euro). These non-wage costs were also high in: the Czech Republic (37 euro), Estonia, Austria and Slovakia (36 euro). In Poland, the employers had to pay 23 euro for every 100 euro paid to employees, whereas the lowest costs were recorded in: Malta (9 euro), Denmark (15 euro) and Luxembourg (16 euro).

The main component of non-wage costs are social security contributions and the costs of pension and health programs.